


And Sings the Tune Without the Words

by mosylu



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, summer in Central City, walking in the rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 18:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15055586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosylu/pseuds/mosylu
Summary: In the middle of a crazy time for Star Labs (do they come any other way?), Caitlin and Cisco take some time, eat some cheese buns, and walk in the rain.





	And Sings the Tune Without the Words

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers” because I love that poem. The jerky bakery customer is dedicated to my dearest Hedgi who’s been listening to me flail about these different stories for a month.
> 
> Written for Killervibe Fanfiction Week on Tumblr. Theme: Friends to Lovers

When she looked through the window and saw them putting out the new tray of cheese buns, Caitlin ducked into the bakery and got right in line. They were the best cheese buns in the city and you could almost never get them because they sold out so fast.

“Four to a customer,” the baker repeated to the person in front of her, who’d asked for the entire tray. “No. Four.”

She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the tray, sending it to Cisco without context.

The person in front of her had just finished threatening to smear the bakery’s name all over Yelp - “Go ahead,” the baker said, unruffled, “I’m the owner and I will ban your ass,” - when the bell over the door jingled. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at Cisco.

“Oh my god,” he murmured, getting in line behind her. “Is it my birthday?”

“The limit is four,” she murmured back.

“Roger that.”

The first customer stomped past Caitlin with a giant pout and no cheese buns, and she stepped up, smiling brightly. “Four, please,” she said, credit card already ready.

When Cisco had received his own brown paper bag of hot, puffy, aromatic cheese buns, he paused to stare down at Caitlin as she perched on the window ledge outside the bakery, savoring her first bun.

“Really?” he said. “You’re going to sit here and eat them?”

She licked a smear of melted butter off her thumb. “Let me put it to you this way. Really? You’re going to take your fresh, delicious, four-and-only-four-to-a-customer cheese buns from Cameron’s, back to Star Labs? Where there are currently _two_ speedsters with insatiable appetites, plus Ralph?”

He contemplated that. “You’re right. Move over.” He sat hip-to-hip with her and fished his first bun out of the bag. “Mmmmm,” he groaned when he bit in.

_“I know,”_ she sighed, wiping her mouth and diving back into her own bag for her second. “How do they do it?”

“Wishcraf’,” he said, voice muffled through his mouthful.

She nodded. Magic had to be the only explanation.

Cisco finished his first bun and sighed with pleasure. “What is Ralph still doing here, anyway?”

“I genuinely don’t know,” she said. “Wasn’t he moving to Iowa?”

“I thought so. Guess he changed his mind.” He reached for the next bun in his bag.

When they’d finished two each, he said, “Thanks for texting me.”

“Of course.” She rested her bag of buns on her knee, looking out at the day. The summer sun beamed down out of a deep blue sky, surrounded by puffy white clouds. In the park across the street, people were picnicking on the grass, a couple of kids were playing frisbee with a golden retriever, and a soft breeze rustled the green leaves on the trees. “This is nice.”

He licked his fingers. “Best cheese buns in the city.”

“That, but - this too. Just taking a break and enjoying the moment. Not because we beat somebody or rescued somebody or won at something. Just because the moment’s here. When was the last time any of us did that?”

“Long time,” he said. “Seems like we’ve been careening from disaster to disaster for - wow. God. Years.”

“That’s what it feels like.”

“When was the last time we had a movie night, even?”

“Oh, that’s been a long time,” she said. “Since before Killer Frost.” Before Cynthia, she wanted to say, but didn’t. They hadn’t talked about his breakup very much even though it had been nearly four months now.

She thought he was doing better lately. But he was good at putting on a face, and the events of the past year or so had put a distance between them that made her distrust her own ability to see under it.

“We should do that again,” he said. “Movie night.”

“Mmmm,” she said, ducking her head under the guise of rooting around for the next bun in her bag.

He’d been making noises like that lately. Let’s hang out, let’s get a drink, wanna catch that movie together? Like he was trying to rebuild the way things used to be with them.

But she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to their previous dynamic.

Not that she didn’t want to spend time with him. There was a reason she’d texted him and not anybody else when she’d seen the cheese buns come out.

But she wasn’t sure she wanted to hang out with him as just friends.

Scratch that.

She knew she didn’t want to be just friends. She wanted to be more.

It had been laying in her heart like an egg for so long she didn’t know when it had arrived. She’d kept it in a corner, trying to ignore it, telling herself that between Killer Frost and Cynthia Reynolds, she’d lost her chance.

But when he’d broken up with Cynthia, the shell had cracked. Over the past months, something soft and wet and new had pushed its way out, and had shown itself unwilling to pushed off to the side. It cheeped and pecked at the inside of her chest every time she saw him now.

She’d seen the icons for dating apps on his phone, so he was at least thinking about getting out there again. But swiping right on an app and trying on a relationship with someone he’d known as long as she and Cisco had known each other - well. Those were different things.

He didn’t pursue the idea, instead singing along with a snatch of a poppy summer hit blaring from a car sitting at the light. When it moved on, he said, “Have you seen the video for that?”

“No,” she said, although she had. “Show me?”

The video was as cute and bouncy-fun as the song, and she smiled over it, leaning into his shoulder as he angled his phone so she could see. They swiped through a few other videos, finishing up the cheese buns.

When they were both done, he held out his hand for her paper bag. She crumpled it up and handed it to him, then got up, swiping dust off her rear as he went down the street a few steps to chuck the bags into a handy trash bin.

When he came back, he said, “You want a ride back?” He flared his fingers in a breaching motion.

“Well,” she said. “I was thinking I’d walk, actually. It’s not too far.” She’d been walking around the city a lot lately. She told the others that it was because she needed the exercise, but the truth was, she needed the quiet thinking time that belonged only to her.

He looked around. “We could do that.”

“You don’t have to,” she said, feeling a flush of pleasure in her stomach. “Just because I am.”

“I know,” he said. “Shall we?”

They matched strides, talking about the videos they’d watched, about summer movies coming out, about the food festival that would be held in the park over the weekend. Anything besides all the work waiting for them back at Star Labs. Not that today was particularly wild, comparatively speaking. But it felt like they were stealing this time for themselves.

Or maybe Caitlin just felt that way.

Halfway back, the clouds started to move in over the sun. Caitlin glanced up. “Was that a sprinkle?”

Cisco held up his hand flat. “Yep. Hey, I wonder if I could maybe make a breach right over our heads to catch the rain - ”

She rooted around in her purse. “Or we could use this,” she said, coming up with an umbrella.

“Well, sure, if you want to be _normal_ about it,” he said. But he ducked under the umbrella’s shelter as drops began to patter against the floral design.

It was the best kind of summer shower, soft and bath-warm, with a light breeze and no hint of lightning or thunder. Snuggled up close under the umbrella, they had to walk slower so as not to trip each other. When they kept bumping elbows, he hooked his arm through hers, and they walked on, connected.

Conversation fell away, and Caitlin listened to the drum of raindrops over their heads. This close, she could smell Cisco’s scent, the clean smell of his shampoo and the earthy tone of his soap and something else that was just him. She caught his eye, and he turned his head and smiled at her.

She smiled back.

All too soon, they walked up the front path to Star Labs. Under the overhang in front of the entrance, Caitlin shook her umbrella free of loose raindrops and collapsed it.

“Hey,” he said. “Earlier? You didn’t really say anything about movie night. When I mentioned it.”

“Didn’t I?” she said airily. “It’s a good idea. Boost team morale. Do you still have that projector? We could set it up in the cortex, get pizza for everyone - lots of pizza - ”

“That’d be fun, sure,” he said. “But I meant just us.”

“Oh,” she said, her heart fluttering like frantic wings. Maybe just friends would be enough. Maybe if they spent enough time together as friends, she could work out if he was open to more, or maybe she’d find out that his friendship was what she’d been wanting and missing, not -

He swallowed. “Just friends if you want,” he said. “But actually I’ve been thinking lately. What if we tried being more?”

She thought _Say something, Caitlin, you idiot._

When her idiot self did not say anything, he looked away, shrugging a little as if to indicate that it was all the same to him. “Or not. Hey, I know it’s a crazy time. You’re still trying to figure out the Killer Frost thing, and we’re all trying to fix Nora’s screw-up, so if you want we can, like, table this discussion until things settle down and - ”

“No,” she finally managed to say, and he turned back to her quickly. “No, let’s not table that discussion - I - ” She fumbled. He looked like he didn’t know whether to downcast or excited. “Cisco, I would like us to be more. I would. Now.”

His face relaxed. “You sure? I mean, it’s so crazy right now.”

She put her hand on his shoulder to steady herself. Then she leaned forward, and kissed him.

He caught his breath against her lips - she felt it. Then his hand came up and pressed against her hair, and he kissed her back.

He smiled at her when they pulled apart, eyes alight. “So that’s a yes, you’re sure.”

She smiled back. “I think if I had waited for things to be not crazy, we wouldn’t have had cheese buns and a walk in the rain just now,” she said. “I think we have to start taking the time for ourselves, and not waiting for it to free up.”

“I think you could be right,” he said.

She kissed him one last time before they had to go inside. In her heart, wings spread wide.

FINIS


End file.
